Postings by Reka

Today Reka is 14. She woke up with a special deportment, as she knew this was her day. She waded through the sea of boys and stepped right up and demanded to be respected. She's not a pushy dog. It's as if she knows. She handed me my socks, so I would get up and feed her breakfast.

[wind back one year today] Dog licenses must be purchased before Jan 31 to avoid a fine. I knew Reka was not going to be here by that date, so when buying family dog licenses, I did not buy her one. . Her dementia was so advanced, she was mere days away from euthanasia. I was putting food in her mouth, because she had forgotten how to eat. She would get into a corner and scream because she was trapped and could not get out. It made you realize just how painful dementia truly is. My dad, with Alzheimer's would spend a half hour or so trying to walk through walls, continuing to try to crash through the barrier until gently led away. So my experience with dementia is, it's not species specific. I have seen the pain. It's real. Reka would go out in her fenced yard.. and have to be rescued because she got lost and could not get home. She was lost in her own house. I did not mind taking care of her, but the anxiety of her confusion caused immeasurable stress to her. This experience juxtaposed with my dad's experiences with alzheimers induced anxiety drove home that mental pain is just as real as physical pain.

I took Reka to the vet to have her euthanized, when the vet suggested a prescription food that he was having success with. He suggested I try this. I was a little miffed, because this dog was obviously a dog too far gone to be helped. But guilt set in, and thought, ok I'll give it a try.

Within 2 weeks on Science diet BD (Brain diet) Rekas clock turned back and showed definite improvement. Within 2 months, her clock turned back 1 1/2 years. I was no longer hand feeding her so she could eat. She was no longer getting lost in the yard.

Today is her birthday. 14. A benchmark. Because on this date a year ago, I made up my mind, it was time and would make her date with destiny at the vets after the holidays. On this date today, You would not know Reka had dementia. She wants to work. She picks up things of value and barters for biscuits. Watching her push through the crowd of boys so she could be recognized was out of character for her, and another sign of her mental health.

Yesterday I bought dog licenses. I bought Reka one too. Happy birthday Reka. Here's to another year. Thank you Science Diet. And thank you to al those dogs who live in labs doing feeding trials who helped make this all possible.

I had a friend who gave me a large bag of Blue Buffalo when her dog developed allergies and she needed to switch away from it. I inherited and Brand new bag and was happy for it, because I wanted to try it. I put two dogs on it, and kept two dogs on a control bag of their former diet.

The two dogs on the Blue Buffalo did well for a month. Suddenly they are both vomiting, while the dogs on the Royal Canin diet are doing fine.

I would begin to suspicion it might be this bag or lot, but this is the second bag. My vet says Blue Buffalo has many protein sources which may trigger allergens. The more protein sources a dog has exposure to, those with a predisposition to developing allergies will have a higher risk of doing so on the varied protein source. He says I have two small a test population to develop any sort of conclusion. But it's curious that 3 dogs on this have now developed allergies within use of two bags.

I really hate to rain on your parade. But you aren't likely to find them. They are NOT a breed. They are a mixed breed. AKA mutt. Someone thought up a fancy name, and perhaps even gave faked papers in order to trade it for bucks.

Nothing wrong with mutts. But I'd rather see people adopting them from the pound, instead of exploiting them in puppy mills and creating suffering.

I agree with the previously stated comments. That said, I carry pepper spray when I'm working my dogs. Not because I'm afraid of coyotes so much, as I am loose dogs harassing my dogs when they are trying to work. People feeding their song birds, outside cats, and outside dogs provide ample buffets for urban coyotes. CATS are a favorite dinner of coyotes. The urban environment provides plenty of those. Small pets being missing from neighborhood yards that are often reported as missing or stolen are often simply meals for the opportunistic coyote. My sister caught her corgi puppy being toted off by a coyote

She never would have guessed that, had she not seen it. My neighbors turning out their black and tan coonhounds for a last hour out before bedtime lost them both to coyotes when they went out to get them. This was a pack of RURAL coyotes when the snows were deep and game was slim. Just to give you an idea of the power of a pack. You have nothing to fear with three large dogs against a single coyote though. It's too high risk with much easier pickings.

Too many irresponsible cat owners who believe cats should be free and allowed outside. Too many small dogs left unattended in back yards. (I had Reka picked up twice by owls when she was a puppy and I was with her at the time, therefore recovering her before she was seriously injured --coyotes are not the only predators of small dogs)

I know what you mean. I used to work in Rescue and got the long term fosters. The hard to place ones. All the stories that made you go awww but cost a lot of money to place. One day I found a puppy of my breed. A sweetheart. I was told to go pick up a senior with health issues. Yes the Senior had a home, but by the time I picked up the Senior, the puppy had been put to sleep.

I got tired of being full to the max of dogs that stayed for years. They were costly. I did not get to work with my own dogs. The major bills, rescue paid for, but the minor incidentals were all mine. I got so I couldn't afford it anymore. I'm done

RAW feeding is natural. Until you start adding vitamins, and enzymes, and all kinds of food additives for balance. Once you start doing that, how can you claim to be feeding RAW? What did the wolves ever do before powders and concoctions?

Fed raw myself for 20 years. Killed two dogs on it. You see people here all the time with nutritional imbalance complaints and dogs being treated for nutritionally caused issues. Perhaps they choose to ignore the fact that its dietary caused.

Veterinarians warn against RAW feeding. Nutritionists make big bucks either trying to correct problems associated with RAW Feeding and help them balance their diets, realizing a huge market here (making them not exactly impartial, after all, it's become a huge fad and their living)
Those who do warn against it, get grouped in the uneducated or conspiracy theory. Let's see.. Professionals who spend their lives treating nutrition issues that owners screwed up, and do food trials, and food studies being relegated to uneducated or tainted by conspiracy, how sad. The kitchen concoctionist carries more weight than professional lifetimes studying and treating owner screwups.. how odd.
No one tells anyone EXACTLY how to feed raw and avoid the pitfalls, because those pitfalls happen to be the blanket "YOU DID IT WRONG" when no one ever tells you how to do it right in the first place. RAW feeders just shut people up by placing blame on you for following their advice when something doesn't work out.
They get defensive, and abusive when things go wrong. There are no statistics kept on RAW FED mistakes. These poor dogs suffer, because there is no exact science to pin it on, after all, it's natural.

I'm always curious how someone offering a different opinion is necessarily DANGEROUS ADVICE, when I see an entire forum with people offering DANGEROUS advice commonly accepted and freely offered without resistance. Perhaps because it's in a proper forum for commonly accepted DANGEROUS ADVICE?

I guess because I killed one dog following their dangerous advice, and almost killed another following their dangerous advice, and see people posting ALL the time, issues because they followed their dangerous advice, and then they prescribe more dangerous advice in an attempt to "fix it" really suggests that the people in that forum might not actually know what they are doing. But it's still dangerous advice and accepted.